| Title | Experience Gained in Implementation of a Resettlement action plan. A Case Study of Olkaria IV and IAU 280MWe Geothermal Plant |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rose Mathenge |
| Year | 2023 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | Olkaria, resettlement, resettlement action plan, stakeholders’ engagement framework, census, PAPs, mediation |
| Abstract | The Olkaria geothermal field is in the southern part of the Kenyan rift, within the Naivasha Sub County. It is located south of Lake Naivasha, approximately 120 km northwest of Nairobi city, the capital city of Kenya. Presently the field supports seven geothermal power plants (Olkaria I, Olkaria IAU, Olkaria II, Olkaria III, Olkaria IV, Oserian power plant, and Olkaria V) and 20 well heads (81MWe) with a total installed capacity of 860 Mwe, which is about 29 % of the national installed capacity Implementation of the 280MW Olkaria I Unit 4 & 5 and Olkaria IV Geothermal Power Plant necessitated relocation of four (4) villages in Olkaria field. From the air quality modeling results, the 24-hour average H2S ground concentrations and noise levels in four of the villages (Olo Nongot, Olo Sinyat, Maasai Cultural Centre & Olo Mayiana Ndogo) surrounding the proposed development exceeded the acceptable threshold provided by WHO and NEMA. To mitigate the community against adverse air quality impact, an involuntary resettlement of the (4) villages (comprising 150+5 households) because of environmental cumulative impacts of noise and hydrogen sulphide gas was rolled out. The process entailed undertaking the Resettlement action plan (RAP) study to identify, assess and quantify the potential adverse economic & social impacts that would result from the involuntary displacement, and facilitate identification of most feasible mitigation measures of the adverse impacts observed, and how to enhance the positive impacts. The RAP study involved undertaking census survey socio-economic baseline data for the PAPs. The initial census survey was conducted in year 2009 with a cut-off date of 16th Sept 2009. An update census was undertaken in 2012 and a validation census in 2013 to include natural growth and counter allegations of exclusion of some of the PAPs. Stakeholders’ mapping was done to identify key stakeholders to be engagement during the RAP process. Additionally, a Stakeholder Management Framework was set up to facilitate the resettlement. The resettlement process commenced in year 2009 and 150 households were successfully resettled on a 1700 acres piece of land referred to as RAPLAND in September 2014. Five Additional Project affected persons( PAPs) were later added to the original list of PAPs following mediation agreement, bringing the total number of PAPs eligible for resettlement to 155. In 2018 an additional 5 households were successfully resettled following a mediation process. |